Date: Fri 07-Aug-1998

Publication: Bee

Author: STEVEB

Quick Words:

Fairfield-Hills-land

Full Text:

State Offers Small Parcel To Newtown

BY STEVE BIGHAM

Hartford continues its effort to get rid of the state-owned property in

Newtown.

Officials have now given the town right-of-first-refusal on a 3.5-acre

property along Exit 10 behind the Blue Colony Diner.

"It's right off the exit ramp in the woods," First Selectman Herb Rosenthal

said. "It's land-locked, so there's no access to it. I don't see it being of

any use to the town."

The property runs along the Exit 10 off/on ramp and borders the Blue Colony

and a handful of properties off Commerce Road.

The state reportedly acquired the land during the construction of Interstate

84. It had considered building a salt shed on the parcel, but that plan has

since been scratched.

The state has been offering to sell Fairfield Hills property to Newtown in

recent months. First, it gave right-of-first-refusal on several houses and

small lots along Queen Street. The seven homes and eight vacant lots on the

western edge of Fairfield Hills property were once used by the former mental

institution's staff members. First Selectman Herb Rosenthal has to make an

offer to the state by September 1 and has indicated he may recommend that at

least some of the land be purchased.

"There's very little land left in the center of town and there is some

sentiment to buy it," he said.

Some residents have suggested the land closest to Grand Place be purchased as

open space, while others have suggested it be used for soccer fields.

"I've gotten calls from people suggesting everything from: we should buy all

the land, to we should buy some of the land, to we shouldn't buy any of it,"

Mr Rosenthal said.

The picturesque land behind the homes is owned by the state's Department of

Agriculture.

The state has also given Newtown the right-of-first refusal on the 185 acres

of property and buildings in and around the core campus of the hospital

grounds. A final decision on whether the town would purchase this land is

several months away.

The state also owns several old houses along Mile Hill Road South, which have

not yet been offered to the town.